Daenerys' wedding night was... rather worse on screen than it was on the page. But in retrospect -- considering Dany's whole life has basically been child abuse -- I'm glad they didn't pretty it up. It really should be awful. (In the books she's thirteen. And winds up having a great time. Which is not good.)

Lena Heady as Cersei (the queen who's screwing her brother, for those not yet able to keep track) is good so far, as is the woman playing Catelyn (Mama Stark). Not enough Peter Dinklege/Tyrion yet.

Knowing what's coming makes all this rather more intense, which is interesting.

Edited to add: HBO's already renewed the show on the strength of the opening night ratings... wow.

My understanding of the wedding night scene in the book was that even though she was forced into the marriage, her "barbarian" husband was at least trying to be sensitive to her feelings. His asking of "no" was to make sure she was ok with it (that part didn't even make sense in the show). This basic courtesy was more than she ever got after a lifetime of being treated as her brothers' property, so she at least tried to go along with it.

In the show it's just kinda rape-y, and I'm guessing 'cause they just don't have time to do nuance on a shot this dense with characters and plots.

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"Most smart people cannot watch most TV, because it has generally been a condescending medium, explaining everything immediately, offering no ambiguities, and using dialogue that simplifies and mitigates against the idiosyncratic ways in which people in different worlds actually communicate. It eventually requires that characters from different places talk the same way as the viewer. This, of course, sucks." - David Simon

Before I saw one second of this show I just assumed Tyrion would be the favorite character amongst viewers, especially those who haven't read the book, because he's an amazing actor and he's the underdog.

If I wasn't reading the book (almost done!) I would probably have found some of this episode boring (I don't love animals enough to be sad when they die on TV like so many people I know).

Favorite part was the dead butcher's son. I liked how that while Ned was upset by that, he wasn't TOO upset. One thing I appreciate about the book is that it reminds us that while these powerful people play their war and politics, it's the regular people that get screwed over.

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"Most smart people cannot watch most TV, because it has generally been a condescending medium, explaining everything immediately, offering no ambiguities, and using dialogue that simplifies and mitigates against the idiosyncratic ways in which people in different worlds actually communicate. It eventually requires that characters from different places talk the same way as the viewer. This, of course, sucks." - David Simon

A theme Martin doesn't abandon. It's worth remembering that Tyrion slaps his nephew around for not paying his respects, and then walks into the hall and demands breakfast.

And yet Jory -- Ned's henchman, with no lines in this one -- has that beautiful/sad moment with the Stark girls. Ordered to get them to bed, he hugs them first, and (if you've read the books) you remember that he's known them since they were born, and probably loves them like he would his own kin.

They seem to be getting a lot of little details right, which I appreciate, and adding a couple more that work pretty well too. So far the absence of Ghost is the only major fault I've got.

I think the Ghost thing is way too nitpicky. There are a lot of wolves, each that need some screen time to reflect their personality in relation to their owners, and two of them have to get gone by end of the 2nd episode.

Ghost will almost definitely get screen time during Jon's time at the Wall, which- and I'm totally guessing here- will probably get shoe-horned into just one episode.

My nitpick is pretty much the entire Dhaenerys/Drago thing. It all just looks... silly. I mean it's all silly 'cause it's fantasy, but this dragon-girl amongst the Mongols bit is simply not translating well on the screen for me. I think a lot of it has to do with the sexual element, which played corny while reading it and that aspect of it is magnified when visualized (and mangled).

At least the girl is really pretty though, so there's that.

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"Most smart people cannot watch most TV, because it has generally been a condescending medium, explaining everything immediately, offering no ambiguities, and using dialogue that simplifies and mitigates against the idiosyncratic ways in which people in different worlds actually communicate. It eventually requires that characters from different places talk the same way as the viewer. This, of course, sucks." - David Simon